Chapter 12 - A Yellow Submarine.
Claire darted through the trees, forcing the others to quicken their pace in order to keep up with her.
"Claire - Wait!" Kate called after her, "Claire, you're going too fast!"
Instead of slowing down, Claire dove through the trees in a fit of laughter. "Come on, it's not much further now," she called back to the others.
Sawyer stopped running and cursed under his breath. Steadying himself against the trunk of a tree, he muttered quietly. "Well as much fun as it is following Loco through the jungle, we aint here to play a game of damn chase!"
From behind him, he heard Jack break from his sprint. Jack came forward and eyed him, cutting his next comment short with a stern and determined look in his eye. Just before the tension between the two threatened to spill into something else, they heard Claire call out. "We`re here!" before she erupted into another fit of laughter.
Jack turned from Sawyer, cutting the unbroken gaze before running into the distance to where Claire had shouted from.
He followed the sound of her laughter, with Sawyer close behind. They were led to an opening in the jungle, and Jack raised his hand to block the glaring sun, taking in his surroundings. They were on a dock, a dock they had never seen before. Behind him, an impatient Sawyer pushed past and instinctively shielded his gaze.
He staggered backwards in surprise. "Is that—a Sub?" Disbelief rang through his voice as he stared wide eyed at the submarine parked at the edge of the dock. "Thank you, Lord!"
The surprise and brief happiness fled when they heard the click of a gun being loaded. Claire had moved to the edge of the dock, towards the treeline, and now had her gun trained at the group. Without turning away, she called out. "I brought them, just like you asked."
There was no response.
"Who the hell is she talkin' to? This is a whole other level of crazy…" Sawyer hissed through gritted teeth, careful not to be too loud to alert Claire.
Kate began to approach Claire cautiously, her voice soothing as she spoke. "Claire, why don't you put the gun down? We not gonna hurt you, we're your friends, remember?" Instead, Claire loaded another bullet into the chamber. "Claire, please stop it…" Kate tried to calm her.
Sawyer was disturbed by the wild look in Claire's eyes and he instinctively took a step towards Kate. "Kate, I wouldn't do that I were you..." he warned.
"Who are you talking to?" Sun asked the young Blonde calmly in attempt to distract her.
"I'm talking to my friend, Sun. You've met him actually," Claire explained with a smug smile. Sun knew who she was referring to and she gulped as a cold chill rippled down her spine. "John, where are you?" Claire called out impatiently. "Please come out, or they'll think I'm crazy!"
"It's a bit late for that now, sweetheart…" Sawyer muttered.
"I'm right here, Claire. Well done for bringing them."
Everyone including Claire spun around to see John emerge from the treeline, the place where they had just come from.
Locke noticed Sawyer reach for his gun and he raised his hands in the air in mock surrender. "Nobody needs to be alarmed. I asked Claire to bring you all here because I was hoping that if you saw her with me, then I could try and make you see sense. You need to join me."
"Not a chance. " Sawyer retorted.
"I told you John. They're not going to listen to us," Claire argued, pointing her rifle at Kate. Then the blonde smiled at Sawyer. "That was the wrong answer, Sawyer. You were supposed to say yes… Now he's going to have to hurt you." Her eyes drifted to Locke and she looked at him pleadingly. "Just promise you won't hurt my brother?"
"I'm not going to hurt anyone, Claire!" Locke snapped and she flinched at the sound of his raised voice. "It doesn't need to come to that." He scanned the faces of the people in front of him and smiled, "There's no reason why we can't all work together?"
A gunshot rang out.
"KATE!" Jack yelled at the top of his lungs.
Kate fell to the ground and Claire lowered her rifle in victory.
John spun round and gave Claire a scornful look, yet there was a strange look in his eye that made Sawyer whether the old man had secretly wanted something like this to happen.
"Now why did you go and do something like that Claire?" Locke asked, shaking his head in disapproval.
Jack lifted Kate into his arms and ran towards the submarine. "It's okay Kate. Your gonna be okay." He lifted the lid of the Sub and carried her inside.
Sawyer could hear hushed voices of men nearby and he backed away towards the sub, realising they were about to be ambushed. He went to reach for his gun but a shot was fired, nearly hitting him.
They were under attack.
"Everyone get to the sub now!" he yelled. He took out his gun and fired random shots at Locke, forcing him and Claire to back away, allowing his friends time to safely board the sub. Once all of his friends were safely inside, Sawyer made a run for the sub and slammed the door closed behind him.
Claire tried running after him, but she was too late. "They didn't listen. They're leaving us!"
Watching as the sub set into motion, a dark smile crossed Locke's features. "Trust me Claire, you don't want to be on that sub."
…
Sawyer ran down the corridor and was startled when he felt the submarine begin to motion. He darted towards the others. "Jack what's going on? Why are we diving?"
Jack didn't look up to face him, he was too busy tending to Kate. "We don't have a choice Sawyer – it's now or never."
Sawyer angrily pushed him aside, he wasn't about to leave Juliet behind or the rest of his friends for that matter. "We aint leavin' 'em behind!"
"We aren't leaving anyone behind, James. But right now we need to get as far away from him as possible." Jack explained in a rushed manner, desperately trying to keep his nerves under control.
Sawyer nodded in understanding. Then he looked over at Kate who was shaking fiercely while Jack tried to comfort her. "Is she gonna be okay, Doc?"
Jack didn't answer. He was too focused on the task in hand.
Jin grabbed Sawyer's arm. "Sawyer, where Claire?" he asked worriedly.
Sawyer just shook his head. "She aint coming."
Sun was rummaging through the packs looking for any available medical supplies when she stumbled upon something unexpected. In that moment her heart caught in her chest and a sickly feeling knotted in the pit of her stomach.
"Look!" She carefully lifted the rigged device from the pack and held it in the air so that everyone could see it.
Oh hell… Sawyer nearly choked when he saw the device counting down. "Is that... a bomb?"
Jack left Kate's side and studied the device. "I don't understand… how did this get in here?"
"It was planted in the pack Claire asked you to carry," Sun answered warily. "She must have put it there..."
"Why would she do that? Why would Claire try and kill us?" Kate wheezed, clutching her shoulder.
Sawyer ran his fingers though his hair, he knew there was no way they could surface the sub in time. "Because she's crazy that's why!" he exclaimed. "What the hell do we do, Doc?"
"We do nothing." Jack replied, and his blunt answer alarmed everyone on board the vessel.
"We do what?!" Sawyer exclaimed – it wasn't like Jack to just give up without at least trying.
"Listen to me all of you. Richard told us that Locke and Jacob have to follow rules. If Locke wants us dead, then why hasn't he killed us already? Think about it, he's had plenty of opportunities?"
"Jack – wh- what are you taking about?" Kate stammered.
"What if the reason he hasn't killed us, is because maybe he's not allowed to. It's against the 'rules'. The only way he can, is by manipulating us into kill ourselves, like he has done with Claire," He placed the bomb on the table for everyone to see. "This bomb isn't going to go off. If we pull the wires out, then we seal our own fate. You have to trust me, nothing is gonna happen. We just need to leave it alone."
But Jin didn't seemed convinced. "How you know? You were wrong about bomb at the Swan site, so how you know about this?"
Jack knew everyone doubted him. For the last week or so he had begun to doubt himself, but this decision was based on gut instinct and he knew he was right. "Nothing is going to happen. You just have to trust me."
Sawyer bit down on his lip, fighting the urge to pull out the wires. Once upon a time he would have trusted the good doctor's decisions, but ever since the incident at the Swan, all trust in Jack faded. "Sorry Doc, but I don't."
In one swift movement, Sawyer pulled out the two wires.
The countdown stopped at 20 seconds. Sawyer wiped the sweat off his brow and the others let out long sighs of relief.
BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.
To everyone's horror, the countdown started up again. Only this time, it was faster.
Looking around at the panicked faces surrounding him, a wave of guilt washed over Sawyer. His friends were doomed because of him. Without a second thought, he snatched the bomb from the surface and ran out the room. No one had a chance to react, except for Jin who shouted his name. But his words to his friend fell empty as it was too late.
There was no time.
Jack managed to find Kates eyes, and he stared at her for the last time with a look that spoke goodbye.
BANG.
There was no time before the bomb detonated, sending metal slicing through the water, and sealing the fate of those inside the sub.
Jack woke to find himself already half submerged, with water rapidly filling the room. His ears were ringing and his head was pounding, but his eyes were searching for Kate. The lights were flickering, and water flooded in everywhere, relentless.
Then he saw her.
She was lying face down in the water. Unmoving. Despite the water pushing against him, he rushed to her side, shouting her name in desperation. He made it to over to her and lifted her up, the water around them a faint red. Her clothes were heavy, and her hair clung to her face. "Kate! Kate!"
Water spluttered from her mouth as she opened her eyes to look up at the man cradling her in his arms, "Jack…" her eyelids fluttered again and Jack knew she was about to fall out of consciousness so he slapped her lightly across the face. "KATE! You have to stay focussed." The slap did the trick, and she was now alert and back in current the situation. "Kate, you're shoulder's bleeding badly, I need to get you out of here now." Hanging on the side of the wall, Jack noticed a cabinet of Oxygen breathers. He took one and gave it to Kate. "Trust me, you're going to need this."
"What about you? There's more than one, take one."
He shook his head. "No, the others will need them... I can manage." He lifted her arm over his shoulder and supported her whilst they began to head for the exit. He would come back to help his friends, but right now Kate's safety was his priority.
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
"On the count of three, ready? ONE – TWO - THREE!"
Sawyer and Jin desperately used all their strength to lift the cabinet that had wedged Sun against the wall. The rapidly rising water was putting them under pressure and it was getting harder to see which objects were blocking her escape.
Sun moaned as the metal barrier dug deeper into her flesh. Their attempt to dislodge the cabinet was unsuccessful, and the object refused to budge.
Jin cupped his wife's cheek in his hand and looked her directly in the eyes. "I am going to get you out of here."
She shook her head in defeat, knowing there was no way she could get out. He knew what she was thinking but he didn't want to hear it. He wasn't going to give up on her. He dove under the water to see whether he could dislodge whatever was trapping his wife. A few seconds later, he resurfaced, and gasped for air.
Time was running out as the water was past their ribs.
"I can't see anything!" Jin spluttered, and panic rang in his voice.
"Jin... you have to go," Sun breathed, her eyes red and bloodshot from the rising salt water.
"No... I am not leaving."
Sawyer reached for his arm. "Then we'll keep trying. Okay?" He bent down, his mouth just above the water and took hold of the metal bolder. "Again – ready? One… two …THREE!"
Both men heaved using all their strength but the barrier was firmly stuck. The submarine creaked as it tilted onto its side as it plunged deeper into the ocean, and objects were sent spiralling around the room.
Jin nearly tumbled backwards as the sub turned on its axis, but Sawyer managed to hold him steady.
A case fell from a shelf and hit Sawyer over the head, knocking him face down into the water.
Jin didn't know what to do, the water was up to his ribs and he couldn't carry Sawyer and help free his wife?
Sun frantically shook the prison entrapping her, trying to break free. "Help! Somebody help us!" she cried.
Hearing the commotion, Jack knew what he needed to do. And so did Kate. He led her down the corridor, and when the exit was in sight, he turned to face her and planted a kiss on her lips. "Kate, you need to get out of here now. Before we go too far under."
She held his cheek firmly in her palm. "I'm not leaving you," she stated firmly.
It broke Jack's heart, all he wanted was to be with her. To get off this island with her and have another chance at making her happy, but he couldn't. He had a responsibility to his friends. And all that really mattered most to him was making sure she got out safely, his life didn't matter.
"KATE…" he tried, breaking away from their embrace but she reached for his hand.
"I 'am not leaving you!" she protested at the top of her lungs.
He knew she wasn't listening to him, so he had to make her listen. "You have to do this. Get out of here, for Aaron." He saw something in her expression change, he knew all she needed was to be reminded of the reason she came back here and now she would have no choice but to leave. "Now, take a deep breath and head straight for the exit. Don't stop for anything."
She started to panic when she realised that the sub was easily more than 20 metres under water – what if she ran out of air?
"I can't do this…" she stammered, backing away from the exit.
He reached for her and pressed his hands firmly on her upper arms. "Yes you can. I believe in you."
She looked at him, wanting to say the words but she couldn't bring herself to let them escape from her mouth, the lump in her throat was sure to stop that. Instead, she nodded and inhaled deeply before diving under the rising water.
Jack watched as her body disappeared beneath the surface before making his way to the sound of raised voices. He saw Jin holding Sawyers head above the water whilst Sun pushed against the metal railing that confined her.
Jack swam towards them and dove under the water, trying his best to work out what was trapping Sun. To his dismay, the water was too dark and it clouded his vision.
Jack came back up to the surface and looked at the chaos around him. Sun needed to get out of there as soon as possible and Sawyer's head injury had knocked him clean out. How were they all going to get out of here?
Jin was struggling to keep Sawyer's head above the quickly rising water. "Jack, get Sawyer out of here!" he exclaimed.
Jack turned to look at his friends, the helplessness of the situation reflected the helpless look in their eyes. And it crushed him. No way was he going to leave these two people, who had become like family to him, to drown - not a chance!
"No, no way I can help you."
Jin placed Sawyer in Jack's arms and shook his head solemnly. "No, you can't… Save Sawyer."
This was the hardest decision Jack ever had to make. He looked at Sun, her eyes were red and sore from the salt water, or was it from the tears?
And it crushed Jack in that moment; the water was up to the necks, and if Sawyer was going to survive, he had to leave them behind - he couldn't save them all. But being a Doctor, it was in Jack's nature to save everyone. He could never let a patient just die, and he certainly wasn't prepared to let his friends die. He couldn't make the hard decision that needed to be made, he couldn't leave them behind… Like true heroes, Sun and Jin made the decision for him.
"Go. You still have time…." Jin said bravely. "Go, I will get her out of here."
Jack could feel the heavy lump take form in his throat. These two people in front of him were going to die … And he was going to leave them. He couldn't bring himself to say anything, he wanted to, he wanted to tell them that everything was going to be okay, and that they would make it home to see their daughter again. But then he would be lying.
They knew as well as he did, they weren't going to make it home.
Jack gave them one last glance before taking Sawyer under his arm and swimming for the exit. The exit was already engulfed by the water as the sub continued to plummet further into the ocean's depths. Within minutes the chance of survival would be gone, and Jack knew it. Thinking didn't come in to it, it was now or never.
Taking a gulp of air, Jack dove into the water with Sawyer tucked firmly under his arm. Already Jack felt weak, and the exit seemed so far away. The water was dark and Jack couldn't see the stray objects of upturned equipment that were blocking his path.
Sawyer was effectively dead weight, slowing Jack down and dragging him downward, but Jack persisted to swim upwards towards the exit.
A stray piece of metal from a broken table leg, snagged the back of Sawyer's jeans and tugged at the material, pulling his unconscious body down. Busy focused on making it to the exit, Jack was slow to realise that Sawyer had slipped from his grip.
The only light in the water was the Sunlight that was shining above Jack through the circular exit of the sub. The rest of the surrounding water was in darkness making any sighting of Sawyer impossible, but Jack wasn't going to lose another friend, not after Sun and Jin had sacrificed themselves in order for him to save Sawyer.
Conscious that his air tank was running low, he could feel the last of his oxygen leaving his lungs and he knew that if he didn't swim for the exit now, that he would definitely die. Looking around in the dark water, he took a leap of faith and swam back down the tunnel, desperately clawing around him in search for Sawyer, but he felt nothing but open water.
Panic took over him as he felt the last of his breath being crushed from his lungs, darkness was slowly creeping in. He had no choice but to swim to the surface.
….. ... ... ...
Jack popped his head out from the surface and gasped desperately for air.
He darted his eyes around, scanning the ocean for any sign of his friends, but all he could see were the surrounding waves and floating debris from the sunken vessel. Panic had taken possession of him and he knew it was distracting his thoughts. If he wanted to help Sawyer, then he had to think calmly and quickly. He couldn't let the fear in, so he did what he knew best. He counted to five. Five seconds to feel afraid and that was all he was going to allow himself.
Panting quickly, he counted aloud, "1… 2… 3…4 …5" he took a deep breath and disappeared below the waves.
Pushing his way through the ocean current, he was devastated to see that the sub was now a small speck in the distance. The last of pocket of air left Jack's lungs when he realised there was no way of reaching it. He was too late. The sub had sunk into the dark depths of the seemingly bottomless ocean, taking his friends down with it.
It was gone.
They were gone.
… ... ... ... ... ...
Jack lay on his stomach, his face pressed deeply into the damp sand as he felt the gentle waves fall back and forth over his body, each time the current pulling him further back.
He was exhausted, his muscles were stiff and heavy from the extreme physical exercise. He couldn't bring himself to move. Instead he lay there for a while, letting the world pass him by.
He was grateful to be alive yet at the same time he was so ungrateful. How could he be grateful for his life when three of his friends had died? The cost was too great and it made him feel worthless. Maybe he should just let the ocean current carry him away?
Despite his blurry vision he could make out a figure running towards him. "Jack. Oh my God, Jack!"
As they got closer, Jack could tell the figure was female. The woman knelt down beside him and rolled him onto his side, helping him sit up, allowing his weary head to rest against her cushioned chest. The warmth of her body comforted him and he was soothed by the steady sound of her heart beat.
"I couldn't find you – I couldn't find you!" she cried, hugging him tighter. Kate's voice, however fearful it sounded, always gave him comfort. He was relieved to be in her arms, to know she was safe. It was moments like this that made him realise just how much he needed her.
She brushed the sand off his cheek and tilted his chin so that he was facing her. "What happened back there? Where is everyone?!" she exclaimed. Somehow the look in her eyes told Jack that she already knew the answer to her question.
A single tear escaped down his cheek. "We were the only ones who made it out…" his voice trailed off, he couldn't bring himself to say their names.
She didn't say a word. Words weren't needed. Nothing she could possibly say would bring them back.
Kate cried with such raw emotion, such pain, that Jack found himself unable to control the tears he had fought so hard to conceal. They fell into each other, clinging to one another, desperate to fill the sudden hole in their hearts.
The sun had set and the beach was now in darkness. The two broke away from each other and stared out at the ocean.
"He did this to them… Locke." The pure hatred in Kate's voice was undeniable.
He knew she was right. Locke had wanted this, and they had played right into his hands.
"They had a little girl, you know?" Kate sobbed. "Her name was Ji Yeon… Jin hadn't even met her yet."
He reached out for Kate's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Locke's not gonna get away with this, do you understand? We are going to make it home, for them."
Kate, who was still staring vacantly out at the ocean, managed to nod her head in reply. He watched as her blank expression changed. Her eyebrows furrowed as though she was in deep thought.
"What is it?" he asked, feeling concern grow in the pit of his stomach.
She turned to face him with a look of dread plastered on her expression. "What are we going to tell Juliet? How are we gonna tell her that…" she choked before saying his name. "That Sawyer's dead?" She said it as though she still didn't believe it was all real.
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he stated quietly. Truth be told, that was the one thing he was most worried about. "It's late. With any luck everyone will be asleep which gives us the chance to sneak back into our homes and wait until morning to tell them. Right now, for just one night, I need to forget it."
Together they headed back to the barracks in silence, Jack took one last look out into the ocean before he retreated into the treeline.
I'm so sorry.
